Miley twerking to tartblivion

After Miley Cyrus introduced a horrified nation to her perpetually protruding tongue at the MTV Video Music Awards, I posted a one-word review on Facebook:

Yech.

That was in August, and I thought it succinctly summed up a performance better suited for "A Clockwork Orange" than mainstream entertainment. The sooner that hideous spectacle faded from memory, the sooner we old fogies could stop hurrumping about the musical taste of today's youth and return to our second-favorite pastime of bemoaning their manners.

To appropriate Miley's song, however, we can't stop. Two months after the underwear-clad singer cavorted with giant bears and sexually assaulted an innocent foam finger, we're still debating whether Miley is an embarrassing mess or an empowered performer twerking all the way to the bank.

I had planned to stay mum about Miley, even though her performance was considered so newsworthy this summer that CNN focused more on Cyrus than Syria. Granted, the concert footage was less violent, mainly because not one of those hapless bears realized that self-respect dictate they simply maul Miley en masse and end our misery. So I was loath to give the former Disney starlet more attention, especially now that her tongue is reportedly under investigation for steroid abuse.

But now comes legendary singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor, who wrote an open letter to the twerking tartlet after Miley referred to O'Connor as her role model and credited an O'Connor music video for inspiring her infamous "Wrecking Ball" video. If you haven't seen it, it features Miley simulating fellatio with a garden implement and swinging naked on a wrecking ball, because this is how young women recover from failed love affairs in today's world.

And for those who suspect that the slutty singer is sexually objectifying herself to make boatloads of cash, this is what she recently told a New York radio station:

"If people get past the point that I'm naked. ... If people can take their minds off the obvious and go into their imagination a little bit and see what the video really means ..."

I only wish that Miley would allow the use of our imagination. As they say, that lip has sailed, and O'Connor warns Miley that the music industry will "prostitute" her:

"Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in the future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you," O'Connor wrote, continuing, "It's really not at all cool. And it's sending dangerous signals to other young women. .... Women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality."

It's a good letter, and Miley responded with appropriate gratitude by implying that O'Connor was mentally ill. Then, within days, sleazy photographer Terry Richardson released a set of Miley snapshots that expose her private parts.

So much for heeding the advice of her elders. Miley is free to do as she likes, of course, and it's practically an obligation for young performers to push the envelope and shock the seniors.

What's different here is that Miley's antics aren't remotely sensual or entertaining. Her defenders argue that she's in control of her image, that she's shirking her Hannah Montana persona and evolving as an artist.

Please. This girl licks a sledgehammer on her video and appears physically unable to tame her tongue. Miley isn't embracing her sexuality; she's turned herself into a disposable, pornographic sex toy.

If that's art, I'm Ernest Hemingway. Miley may be older, but she needs to grow up if she wants to hold our attention.